[Bell Historians] Fw: Harry Stokes, bellhanger

[Ron Johnston]

Those daybooks could be a goldmine for a historian!

On Sat, 25 Jan 2003 22:58:40 -0000 David Bryant <djb122 at y...> 
wrote:

> Hello All,
> 
> I recently received the following email from Mr Roger Stokes, who is the
> Great Grandson of the bellhanger Harry Stokes. I thought both his email and
> its attachments are likely to be of interest to a number of people besides
> myself. The attachments are rather large so I'll upload them to the pictures
> section of the Yahoo page. Does anyone know anything about the 'Hooper'
> mentioned in the email?
> 
> David
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Roger Stokes" <rstokes at w...>
> To: <djb122 at y...>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2003 7:09 PM
> Subject: Harry Stokes, bellhanger
> 
> 
> Dear David,
> 
> Whilst doing a search on the internet for variants on the Stokes family I
> stumbled across your website which contains references to our family. I
> myself am the GGson of Harry Stokes (the 1st.), who was later followed by
> Harry Stokes (2nd.) and later my late father also Harry Stokes! However he
> was not a bellhanger but a farmer. My line of the family have lived in the
> village since 1535, and we have a family tree back to then!
> 
> I looked at your entry on West Buckland, and see that you were requiring
> some information on the 1902 bell repairs. I have all the day books of the
> bellhanging and general repairs for a period from approx. 1898 - 1930's, and
> have looked up the West Buckland entry which was dilligently recorded, as
> was everything those days. I have attached a shrunken down scan of this
> entry which may be of interest to you. It is still rather large for e-mail,
> but if made smaller becomes inelligible. The full size copy is quite clear,
> and if you wanted one I would be happy to send you one.
> 
> I have also attached a picture of the Stokes Bellhanging team of 1906, which
> may be of interest to you. The team travelled what were great distances in
> those days, and I believe that they may have done some work on York Minster.
> 
> Prior to 1900, I believe that HS 1st. was in partnership with a chap called
> Hooper, but I do not have any detail of this. If you have any I would be
> interested to know the details.
> 
> Whilst I am not a campanologist, my mother was the daughter of William
> Arthur Hughes of the Whitechapel Foundry, and my cousin (as you probably
> well know) carries on the business. He is of course Alan Hughes. My mother
> and father originally met due to the contact between the two families - so
> there you are!
> 
> In 1999 I compiled a book "Woodbury -the Twentieth Century Revisited" to
> record all the available old photographs of the period. I currently now have
> a digital collection of some 1500+. Amongst those are a few "bell" ones, and
> some of Harry Stokes workshop here in Woodbury. However, somewhere in my
> loft I probably have the internal measurements of the towers of half the
> churches in the country!
> 
> I like you am currently trying to put together a website - mine of Woodbury
> today and yesterday. At the moment there are approx 100 old Woodbury
> postcards on line, but I hope to add many more in due course. It all takes
> time in between everything else!
> 
> Hope the attached is of interest.
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Roger Stokes
> Sunnybank
> The Arch
> Woodbury
> Exeter
> Devon UK.
> EX5 1LL.
> Tel: (+44) 01395 232350 (Home)
> Tel: (+44) 01395 232276 (Park)
> e-mail: rstokes at w...
> web: www.webbersfarm.co.uk
> web: www.woodbury-devon-uk.eclipse.co.uk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 

-------------------
Ron Johnston
School of Geographical Sciences,
University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1SS
0117 928 9116 (FAX 0117 928 7878)
r.johnston at b...

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